Introduction

Interviews with the IT4ALL project participants

Vladimír Čelko

“I did not understand that my friends are working in the IT area despite they had studied humanistic field.”

Within the whole group he was probably the most motivated to work in our company, which is also proved by him being hired a few weeks ago in the company. Extremely communicative type with excellent vocabulary, which was seen in each of the activities. He has always voluntarily signed up if someone had something to start with in the group. He is very positive, and despite having graduated from the humanities, he likes IT very much.

Vlado, why did you decide to complete the project and go in the IT direction despite studying something completely different?

I wanted to do something to learn new things without any stress. Come to culture, the environment, learn, and at the same time bring something that I have and apply it. At the Carpathian Foundation, I remembered that this project was something as a sign to me. Many of my acquaintances from my school have been involved in the IT area, and it was hard for me at the time I had another job. I did not understand that they were in the IT area despite being humanistic. Over time, when I did not have the opportunity to work quietly in my previous jobs, because it was still somewhat conditional, and when I met the people who are here, I was “jealous“. It’s a room at work with minimal political influence on occupying the functions. It does not seem to people from the inside, but here we are not at risk of every election. I have the feeling that when you do your job well, it does not matter whether you are green, purple, left, right, or who is currently in power. And so it became my goal to get into this company.

What school did you study and what positions have you had before joining T-Systems?

I graduated from the Faculty of Public Administration at UPJŠ in Košice. I had a third-system of subjects – a third of the economic, a third of the sociological, a third of the legal. The school was fine, I really enjoyed it. The difficulty of the subjects was much higher than the reputation of the school. Legal subjects were taught by lawyers, economic by economists. We have people in charge of many companies, we have deputies of city councils, and we have people at T-Systems. After school, I worked as a lecturer and coordinator in one EU project. Later I worked for one betting company as a bookmaker. Then I still had administrative work in one psychological center, and then it was work at the municipality office, where I was working as a healthcare counselor.

What did you like the most about the project lessons?

Soft skills were very interesting due to my personality and my capabilities. Again it turned out that a person never stops learning. In every job I made a team, and I saw here the coaches can be professionals in something but sometimes one element in the group is enough and things would be totally different. English was necessary, and I’m glad we had the lessons. IT skills were very useful, many things were new to me.

Marek Luco

“Happy man makes the world a better place.”

An easy-going person with a sense of humor. Marek did not have a problem with any activity. When there was an assignment, he did not care much about the preparation because he could do it without it. Very nice performance in front of the group, stress-free, understandable and with a reasonable dose of humor. In spite of the wheelchair, he attended the lessons on a regular basis, he runs his own business, and he is always smiling.

Marek, what is your vision?

Being happy in life. And even not getting bored. I stil have some time to use somehow, so I’ve signed up for this project. Why do I have such a vision? Because a happy man makes the world better. I will probably not do it better on my own, but I try to contribute to it. I like the comfort of having things done, and then dealing with one‘s own affairs. I’m still working on it, and this project is a part of the steps towards achieving my vision. I think it is useful and important to keep learning and discovering new things.

What did this project give you?

The project gave me the most of all the skills. Of the three fields we took, all were good. I finally came to like English. Lectures were conducted in a way for people to be interested in them, and even though I already had some experience, I still found something new about it. Whether it’s presenting yourself or other ways of behaving. For the future, I will certainly use the acquired knowledge.

Samuel Andrejčík

“Soft skills were great“.

Samuel has an admirable knowledge. Even his handicap and wheelchair did not deter him from joining each topic. He is very communicative and has rich vocabulary. He knows what he wants to do in life, and it is clear from his narrative that he is not bored in any moment. It’s proved not only by his studies at the Technical University, but also by a paralympic sport boccia, where he is very successful with his sports partner in world competitions. He has a great potential to do any IT work, as he studies computer networks and enjoys it very much. In the summer he’ll join T-Systems Slovakia for a short internship.

Samo, do you have a vision too?

It is definitely to finish the school and in parallel I would like to continue to do sports and achieve good results. I hope these will go hand in hand and that I will not have to take just one. I love something I see the result of. I hate doing a thing anyone could do or do something just to do it in a week again, because it does not work anymore. Even though there is not so much time now, I want to invest it in education, sport, and more, when there is an opportunity. I know that when I invest the time now, the investment will return back to me in the future.

How was the project successful for you?

This project was a huge value for me because I wanted to be a part of Dual Education before but I did not succeed. After a couple of months, my journey led here again and I took it as a sign – there is an opportunity so catch it. It brought me new contacts, a new range of ideas, ways to do things. Soft skills were great. My horizon was expanding, it was a new experience for me.

How do you manage everything? Excellent results at schools, exams done before deadlines, winning boccia competitions.

When a person wants to achieve something, he’ll find the way. I want to be nominated for another paralympics, guide my sport pair the best I can. I want to work on myself, to train. It’s more difficult now while studying, not as it was in the high school, where I used to do my homework just before a lesson. I try to combine it so I can devote my time to all the activities, as I want to develop myself in IT or languages ​​as well.

Janka Andrejková

“It is important to always have something that makes a man happy to be able to benefit from it.”

At the start I must mention that Janka is a very good listener, and she asks a lot when she does not understand something. In spite of the visual handicap, other senses are developed more. Janka is a quiet person, she was not among the most communicative ones at the lessons, but she told us the most about her in the interview. She attended the lessons regularly, very conscientiously, and so she did for her preparation. She likes people and it’s important for her to have the right and positive ones around. Within her presentation, which each participant had to prepare for one topic, she had an excellent performance.

Janka, tell us something about your goals.

My vision is to live the best, be happy, and I can do it by finding a job, setting up a family, finding friends. I meet people, I notice the opportunities that are coming, for example, the opportunity to take part in this course.

What did you like the most in the lessons?

Everything in this course was good in some way, I learned something new in each and every lesson. I really enjoyed presenting. It reminded me of school. Definitely I will take advantage of what I have learned also in English. When and how, I don’t know yet, but I definitely stick to something and I will continue to use these things. Trainers have also learned a lot, and it has certainly been a great experience for them. As part of the soft skills, I particularly liked the approach of the lecturers who were always prepared. At the same time I liked information about T-Systems, for me the company looks like one city, one world. It’s fun, people do the job they like here.

You told us that finding work is not easy at all. What motivates you not giving up?

I have much experience, be it good or bad, and I have a problem to be motivated too. But I’m still trying to find something that will make my life a nice one. When I was studying, I was very motivated. When I could not find a job, it was worse, but I still had my interests – like dancing. Currently I do not dance, but I’m having math classes, so it gives me a feeling of happiness. It is important to have something that makes a person happy to be able to benefit from it.

How was your study?

After grammar school I wanted to study psychology, but I did not manage to. I graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Košice. It was the only school to which the application was yet to be sent and I did not want to sit at home and wait for the upcoming year. But after a while I liked this school. I had individual lessons and lectures were recorded by my classmates or professors. As for the field of study, I chose Biomedical Engineering. In some way it was something similar to psychology. Later I went to PhD studies. I went to conferences in Spain, Poland, Czech, I met a lot of interesting people, after school I even got to America.

What about your hobbies?

Every day looks completely different. Sometimes I often devote time to oriental dance, which I participated in thanks to one editor I met. Later I went to another dance group where I was dancing for 10 years. Overall I spent 14 years with oriental dance, but I believe it’s not finished. I love to swim, I listen to audiobooks, it’s great relaxation for me. I’m trying a lot of things, we’ll see how it goes.

Patrik Halický

“When I look at people, extremely glorious or wealthy, I can see that family is what makes people most satisfied.”

Patrik is an adaptable team player. In soft skills, he got involved in all the topics that were prepared. He was always taking notes and preparing for activities, he is a planner. When he has a plan, he is ready to implement it. Even from his work experience, it’s obvious he takes every opportunity that comes ahead. Presentation skills should be improved, but as Patrik has a great lust to learn many things, this is one of them.

Patrik, what is your vision?

My vision is to be secured financially. I’ll start with this rather than being happy which has been said already. I think it’s one of the basics of being happy in life to be secured and then family or relationships can come. When I look at people, extremely glorious or wealthy, it’s obvious that one can be most likely satisfied thanks to family. Getting the Nobel Prize or the fact that everyone knows I exist will not make me happy. I will make use of the available options. This project came so I used the opportunity.

What did the IT4ALL project mean to you?

I practiced MS Office. I improved in English. Although it’s a long journey, it’s gonna improve. From soft skills I remember four ears – that incoming information needs to be assessed in several ways. I’m glad I practiced presenting after a long time.

What did you study and what is your work experience?

I spent a year studying at the Faculty of Mechanics in Košice. I happened to notice Janka, we met once (the world is really small). However, engineering did not work very well, so I went to Prešov for physics and ecology. After school, health problems appeared and so I tried to give lessons from home. There was little interest, but I spent and used the time somehow. Meanwhile, I did things through the Labor Office, so nothing world-class about the finances, but I learned a lot. For example, I saw homeless people from a completely different face, as when we just meet them on the street. I found out that they are quite normal people like us, they just did not calculate how much they can borrow, how much they can afford to repay. I had a lot of short temporary jobs through a student service. Later I managed to get a disability pension and get rid of the job office and therefore a lot of limitations dissapeared. I also managed to find a serious job where I’ve been doing stock takings and I am delighted to make a nice profit. However, I realized I know how to work like this but only for a few years. So I have accepted this challenge and signed up for this program in T-Systems.

What are your hobbies?

My hobbies include geocaching, summertime bee-keeping, house works, and domestic experiments in physics. I have five hives at home, I barely use sugar. It’s a great relaxation for me, buzzing can calm me down.